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India’s unprecedented reaction to the #MeToo movement has hit one industry after the other as more and more women are divulging stories of sexual abuse, sexual harassment and ingrained casual sexism on social media. The movement has also drawn a lot of criticism from several quarters with some slamming it as being a ‘naming and shaming’ movement which has no capability of actually changing the system. This school of thought has found agreement in former Supreme Court judge Sujata Manohar.

According to Justice Manohar, who was responsible for writing up the Vishakha guidelines to ensure no working woman is subjected to sexual harassment in August 1997, “No purpose will be served if women limit themselves only to social media”.

In an exclusive interview with the Free Press Journal, Justice Manohar said, “The guidelines which I had penned down dealt only with contemporary cases where a woman is being harassed at her work field. The guidelines were not at all meant to look into cases wherein women come out after decades.”

This, she says, leads to a lot of difficulty for the police in actually finding evidence to corroborate the accuser’s claims.

“The evidence of what took place some 20 to 25 years ago is obviously not going to remain as it is. There should be something reliable in place for the police to prosecute the named accused as there are always chances of some women merely naming others to settle personal scores,” Justice Manohar told Free Press Journal.

“This is not the scenario in current cases where women are being harassed, as the police can easily cross check the allegations,” Justice Manohar added.

The best course of action, Justice Manohar said, would be for women to directly go to the police to name their abusers and harassers instead of staking to social media to out their names.

“No purpose will be served if woman limit themselves only to social media. They have the option to approach the police, instead of the social media. Their failure to report the case also hints that the forum is being misused by many because of which genuine women might have to suffer,” Justice Manohar said.

Justice Manohar also stressed on how the government needs to formulate a new law to resolve complaints as the Vishakha guidelines was designed only for contemporary harassment.

“Unless there is a law to deal with cases as revealed through this movement, no one can do anything. The existing laws do not focus on such kind of complaints; thus, there is a need to formulate a law which can define the nature of offence, and then what kind of punishment must be imposed, and so on,” Justice Manohar said.

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Comments (7) Closed

raj kumarOct 19, 2018 11:07am

Still naming and shaming (like in case of Alok Nath for example or M J Akbar) will put a fear in these people of damaging results of their action,now they are already facing the heat,with 1 was forced to resign and the other may find it very difficult to get new roles.
People in general will also be more carefull while dealing with these thugs.

AnkurOct 20, 2018 10:17am

Still it's start. The court cases and procedures are so daunting and ineffective that naming and shaming on social media will have bigger impact in India than going to a court. Plus, at least, we will know the names of these criminals who have been enjoying false sense of security.

iqbal carrimOct 20, 2018 12:46pm

Credit goes to social media in its present form acting
as a powerful deterrent to prospective culprits in a profligate life style.

ISHTIAQUEOct 20, 2018 06:46pm

The court processes are so long, expensive and even then do not give results in many cases, this social media power is giving the instant justice and punishing the culprit, but we have to be careful as even women can exploit their power by blaming someone for revenge even if that person is innocent.

ManzerOct 20, 2018 08:42pm

What the judge is saying is indeed sensible as far as true justice is concerned. However, the purpose of the social media route is to just name and shame the alleged culprit so he would either be removed from the job or just resign himself. The problem with this approach is that there is no way to figure out the veracity of the accuser, and there is a chance that an innocent person will get punished -- not by the courts but just by the society. This mob approach to justice does not bode well.

Syed JafriOct 21, 2018 03:11am

Speaking up is the single most important aspect against the perpetrators. Victims should use all available venues including Criminal justice system and social media to name and shame the perpetrators. Silence is the weapon in the hands of these criminals, so don't stay quiet.

UziOct 23, 2018 11:16pm

Glad that some sanity still prevails with regards to the #MeToo movement. Without due process, a lot of lives can be destroyed based on false allegations for nefarious reasons. The prevalent narrative is centered on hysteria against men without any respect for the innocent until proven guilty clause upon which the justice system should stand.